Puppies and Puddles

April 2016

1 week ago we picked up our new little family member - a dog … well, a puppy. Often folks in western “first world” countries think a family is incomplete without a pet. So we think about it, imagine, consider the pros and cons, and deliberate over the decision of adding a “big pet” to our lives.

We actually thought that we had made it through this phase, but no, the Peters finally gave in. I could blame it on our kids who recently used phrases like “Our childhood will never be complete without a dog”, or “Families with dogs are just happier families”, or the latest “You can still save our childhood if you get a dog” – Yes, Michael said this, but in reality I wanted one too. My outdoor, romantic, dreamy images of me running through the woods with my dog got the better of me. So we broke down and took the plunge, and the outcome is that today, on a Sunday morning, I am sitting at home, trying to live-stream our church service (which of course is not working L) while I am “puppy sitting”J because he can’t be left alone yet. Yes, we were warned. We went into it with “eyes somewhat open”.

Try saying no to those eyes

We have quickly discovered that training a puppy is all-consuming.  It is actually ridiculously consuming. I can’t even leave the kitchen/dining area, to which for the moment the puppy is restricted, and our house has been transformed into puppy kindergarten. We took out the carpets, put in safety gates, blocked off all areas we don’t want to “puppy proof”, and now, instead of decorative flowers, baskets with books, and nice cozy rugs I have: boxes, empty plastic bottles, balls, rags, ropes, and old shoes strewn all over the floor. Our vocabulary has changed to “Good, Rocky, peepee”, ”goooood boy”, or an attempt at a deep “NO Rocky”, ”No bite”, “no, no, no, NO…” (to which Phil usually laughs, because of course I can’t compete with the Peters’ deep low voice). Phil and I have even moved into separate bedrooms so that one of us can sleep downstairs next to the kennel during his “potty-training stage”, and the other can get some precious SLEEP!

Up the Blauen, our local mountain, on Phil's Bday

But you know, all in all, we love it! Here is this totally dependent, fun, excited, loving, the cutest of cuties, little being who wants to be with us at all times, who makes a mess, disrupts, adds some grief, but we love him anyways.

Disruptive nights (I thought we were long out of that stage) and wiping up pee puddles on the kitchen floor (Alex claims he is “a real PEEters”), have awoken my “reflective self” and given me something to think about.  I usually like to find a lesson of opportunity in every thing, and because I believe God uses His creation to teach us, I figure he is also teaching me through this silly, first world “puppy challenge”. 

What a life!

Are we a little like a puppy?  And is God the ideal “trainer?”  I’m not going to get theological - I would probably get into trouble. But I am sure thankful that He encounters me with joy and love, not giving up on what He knows I am created to be, …and that He likely often wipes up my pee puddles.